Gentlemen, I declare Operation Webster off and running. Webster, for those who neglected their Literature studies, was a proponent of the art of the Revenger Tragedy that was around shortly after Shakespeare’s time. Well in the last 48 hours we have been enacting a revenge upon our enemy that has been horrible to behold.
I need not remind you of the heinous and dishonourable attack upon Singapore that began this war. Shortly after the Jap occupied Singapore and has sat there, undisturbed until two days ago. Once we were sure that Batavia was safe we began to move our heavy bombers there, moving our other planes to other locations. When all were assembled, and lacking any advance knowledge of our plan the Japs sat confident in their positions. In 48 hours of raids by over 200 bombers each day we have made attacks against the airfields and Port of Singapore. Liberators and B17s have pressed home their attacks, supported by P40s and P38s.
On day one the fighters fought off the Zeroes and Tonies to give our bombers an uninterrupted run on their targets, on day two there was no need as there were no fighters flying in defence of Singapore.
Debriefs upon return indicate the following losses to Japanese air either in combat or on the ground:
A6M2 Zero: 18 destroyed
C5M Babs: 5 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 7 destroyed
H6K4 Mavis: 5 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 12 destroyed
Ki-46-II Dinah:13 destroyed
Ki-51 Sonia: 12 destroyed
Ki-57-II Topsy: 7 destroyed
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 17 destroyed
When we turn to aerial reconnaissance following the bombing we see the extent of the damage to the Japanese navy:
BB Fuso, Bomb hits 15, on fire
BB Haruna, Bomb hits 18, on fire, heavy damage
BB Hiei, Bomb hits 12, on fire
BB Mutsu, Bomb hits
BB Nagato, Bomb hits 12, on fire, heavy damage
BB Yamashiro, Bomb hits 19, on fire, heavy damage
CL Kashii, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CV Hiyo, Bomb hits 28, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
The CV Hiyo is known to have sunk in the harbour, taking with it a significant number of aircraft. We suspect that the Zuiho will soon also sink. As regards the Battleships we are aware that the bomb hits will not sink these ships, but are also aware that little of their upperworks are left and that they cannot go anywhere. They are thus effectively reduced to hulks and await our arrival. Should they wish to leave they will face significant undersea friends!
Gentlemen, we are very pleased indeed with these results. It concludes the battle for Batavia (Operation NoGo) nicely and marks the opening of a new phase in the war. In itself this would be worthy of celebration, but there is more.
Dutch troops have been moving overland slowly from Benkolen in the hope of cutting the supply line between Teloetbetoeng and Palembang. Today they reached the road and are now looking northwards at Palembang as their new target. We did hope, at the start of this operation to have trapped the Japanese division that was at Teloetbetoeng, but that is no longer the case – it was moved across to Merak. Yesterday Dutch troops landed at Teloetbetoeng and found it undefended…. It is now back in their hands. We must also announce the commencement of landings at Medan by troops moving down from Kuala – the enemy air presence at Georgetown has been eliminated.
Turning briefly to China I do not know if there is any significance in numbers, but between Chungking and Sian, in the paddy fields there are currently the Japanese 13th Divn, the 13th Tank Regiment and the 13th Independent Brigade. They have been out of supply now for two weeks and are being attacked by forces outnumbering them by at least 5:1. They will soon cease to be effective.
Gentlemen, our next briefing will be at a time when we have further good news to give out.
